Nothin’ but green. I love green.
The Summer Solstice has come and gone. It is both my favorite and least favorite day of the year. My favorite because it’s the longest day of the year. My least favorite because now the days start getting shorter.
In my perfect world, summer would be be nine months long followed by one month of fall, one month of a snowy winter and one month of spring.
I love summer. Everything about summer makes me happy.
I love my house in the summer. Screen doors come out of storage. Screen doors that remind me of my grandmother’s house. The ceiling fans get dusted off and start spinning. Quilts come off the beds and we sleep all splayed out under a sheet. Lawn chairs get sprayed off and unstacked, waiting for someone to plop down and rest a while.
Even chores are better in summer. Hanging clothes on the line. Putting just-washed sheets back on the bed wet so they dry crisp and taut. The best is going out to feed the animals in the morning only requires throwing a hoodie over pajamas and slipping feet into clogs, not the layers and layers of clothes and boots and snow shovel and ice pick that January requires.
I love pulling on a pair of stiff jeans just off the line.
The sounds of summer are like music. The rat-a-tat-tat of the sprinklers. The voices of the birds, so many different voices, singing all day – even before the sun comes up. The lowing of the cows that arrive in the field behind the house. The rustle of the leaves in the breeze. The squeak of spigot that begins and ends the daily filling of the bird baths.
I love the easiness of eating and drinking outdoors. My favorite drinks taste better in summer. Jalapeno margaritas. Iced tea with a big chunk of lemon. There’s something about sitting on a patio on a hot afternoon and eating Mexican food that is just the best.
I will be eating this soon-to-be-tomato in a few months.
I love the rhythms and routines of summer. We don’t have air-conditioning, so there’s a daily pattern of opening and closing the house to keep it cool. I love walking room to room and cranking open the windows after a hot day and saying hello to the cool of the evening.
There’s a steadiness to the heat, a quiet drumbeat. There’s more work to be done in the summer. Planting, weeding, mowing, tending. Even though I move more slowly, letting the heat take the energy out of me, it still all gets done.
In winter I tense up against the cold, I fight it. Then summer comes. I thaw out. I melt a little. I relax.
Summer skies in Colorado are routinely breathtaking.
(Shared at the Clever Chicks Blog Hop, Homestead Barn Hop, Backyard Farming Connection Hop, Down Home Blog Hop, HomeAcre Hop, From the Farm Blog Hop and Farmgirl Friday Blog Hop)
As someone who grew up in California, now living in high desert Arizona…I sure miss the green!!! So beautiful.
We are lucky, especially in June, when the green is so intense!
I love everything about this post.
Jalapeno margaritas? I’m curious….
Lori recently posted…Summer Color
They are oh so good. My favorite! Here’s the recipe!
http://www.justtherightthings.com/2013/02/jalapeno-margarita/
Summer sure does sound perfect in your hood. Fall is my favorite time of year here as our summers are HOT. We use screen doors always except for about a month in winter when it’s down right cold…
Yes to your post, I am trying and hoping to plan a photo road trip to CO either this fall or next. How fun would it be to meet in real like… super fun!
Happy Monday Buddy!
A View From A Brown Dog recently posted…This last Weekend….
It will happen. All the good things do!
Growing up in Texas makes everything under 85 degrees seem like winter. My best friend says I’m at my best when everyone else is wilting!
Like you I love the summer. Here in NE Texas it gets pretty hot & humid and our days are worked around the weather but I love being in the garden, harvesting that fresh produce. I love waiting for a calf to be born or hanging the laundry under that blazingly-blue Texas sky. The mockingbirds sing just a little more excitedly and the butterflies and wildflowers delight my senses. Thanks for sharing this post! (visiting from Homestead Barn Hop)
~Taylor-Made Ranch~
Wolfe City, Texas
Taylor-Made Ranch recently posted…RECIPE: Fat-Free Ice Cream Using Frozen Bananas
Summer just makes you feel more alive, doesn’t it? Thanks for stopping by!
What wonderful imagery…Poetic. I too love summer. Here in NC we have relatively mild summers, but quite a bit of humidity. Thanks for sharing!
Please join us again Thursday at:
The HomeAcre Hop
~Ann
Summers Acres recently posted…We have Been Featured at Stone Gable – Inspiring Creative Living!
Hi Joan – love this post and your blog site. Our business is all about outdoor living and enjoying patios, decks and the like. Thanks for the inspiration while we wait for the spring weather to return.